Comfort and Care
by Kalira69
Summary: The Hokage's best ANBU returns from a stressful mission and is welcomed home by his lovers.


Written for Naruto Rare Pair Bingo 2019, for the spaces 'ANBU' on boards A and C, & 'ultra-rare' (a ship with 4 or fewer posted fics on AO3) on board B.

(This was the first fic I wrote for this event, actually . . . and now I'm going to have to keep a tally of how many stories for ships that would qualify for that ultra-rare space I write for it, because I'm curious.)

* * *

Sakura came awake only at the tingling rush of wards rising around her, and jolted sharply with it, then immediately relaxed. The tingle - on the stinging edge of discomfort and reassurance - was familiar, and she smiled slightly, then opened her eyes and glared.

Kakashi paused, raising wide eyes to meet her gaze. Sakura huffed and held out a hand imperiously, raising her eyebrows. It was _very_ late.

Kakashi finished shedding his Hokage robe, then peeled off the clingy undershirt with its attached mask, ruffling his hair and revealing both his face and the stark tattoo on his upper arm, washed near-colourless in the moonlight. He smiled slightly, eyes droopy with exhaustion but still warm as he approached the bed.

Sakura reached up and caught him by the forearm, dragging him down halfway over her body and into the firmly plush welcome of their bed. Kakashi groaned, planting his face into her shoulder and going limp save for a few small wriggles.

Sakura frowned, feeling the tension still strung across his shoulders and down his back as she let her hand rest between the sharp wings of his shoulder blades. His lazy demeanour and relaxed posture, she had finally learned with some irritation years ago, really only concealed how _very much_ he wound himself up with stress. She stroked one hand up and down his back, gently letting her chakra ripple against his, melting into his body and encouraging the muscles to release.

Kakashi shivered under the touch, but it was _her_, and so he didn't tense or fight, his body lax and chakra calm. Sakura never failed to appreciate that trust, all the more so for being from a man who offered it to so few. She kissed the nearest patch of his face, her lips mostly catching the tousled hair falling across his temple.

"Tenzou?" Kakashi asked softly, his voice muffled into her shoulder and barely audible.

Sakura's lips tugged into a worried frown. Tenzou could look after himself, she knew, but. . . She lightly tugged Kakashi's hair. "He's _your_ ANBU, shouldn't you know?" she asked, the sharpness she had half-intended absent from her tone.

Kakashi whined softly, still muffled against her skin, and Sakura rubbed her fingertips at his nape in an absently soothing gesture. "_Had_ to send him away." Kakashi said, voice thick with regret, which Sakura knew. He'd been gone for a few weeks, and Kakashi would never have sent him at all if it hadn't been necessary.

Kakashi would probably never send either of them anywhere, let alone without each other, or without him, if he could avoid it, now it was technically under his purview.

Tenzou had been expected back today, she knew as well as Kakashi - and she doubted, rank, clearance, and all, there was anything more he or Tenzou knew that she did not when it came to the mission's timetable and any possible delays. Sakura sighed, curling an arm around Kakashi and turning into him in an absent search for comfort.

Late wasn't terrifically concerning, even for Tenzou - not at this level, at least - but it was always hard when one of them was out alone - more so when it was not simply without _them_, but _truly_ alone, and this mission had seen Tenzou leaving Konoha with no one at his back.

A quiet scrape caught Sakura's attention and she tilted her head back and away from the shelter of Kakashi's body just as he tensed and raised his own. The window shuddered, the wards coming down, and Tenzou slipped over the sill, mostly a silhouette, looking slightly mussed.

Sakura scrambled upright, kneeling, and opened her arms, and Tenzou hesitated, then slid off his happuri - it fell to land at the edge of the bed with a light thunk as it tipped against the wall - and dropped to his knees, pressing into her embrace.

Sakura hugged him tight, reflexively shaping her chakra and letting it radiate outwards softly, thrumming through her lover's body. Tenzou shivered and whined, twining his fingers in her hair at the nape of her neck, and Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as she felt nothing more than weariness, basic scrapes and bruises, and perhaps the beginnings of a simple virus. She focused for a moment longer to soothe those minor hurts and burn away the virus, distractedly aware of the wards being raised with that sharp tingle again, then let the energy go.

A long-fingered hand smoothed up Sakura's back, and then both of them were tugged down into Kakashi's arms, falling against him on the bed. Sakura nuzzled his jaw affectionately and Tenzou's embrace shifted to encircle Kakashi's slim waist as well, then tightened almost painfully.

"Senpai." Tenzou mumbled, his face pressed into Kakashi's collarbone in a way Sakura knew firsthand was quite uncomfortable - pretty he might be but Kakashi was all hard angles, bone and whipcord muscle. Not that the way Tenzou's ANBU-issue flak jacket was digging into Kakashi's bare chest could feel very comfortable either.

"Not in bed." Kakashi groaned, rubbing Tenzou's back. Sakura smiled a little as he relaxed along with the familiar protest, not saying anything but pressing closer to Kakashi with a soft whine.

Sakura shifted up enough to meet Kakashi's eyes over Tenzou's tousled hair, then bent and kissed his jaw just above the line of the fabric that clung to his chin. "Come on, my loves," she said gently, slipping away - her heart twinged when Tenzou immediately tensed again and reached for her, whining, "let's get you clean so you can rest better." She clasped Tenzou's reaching hand, twining their fingers and squeezing soothingly.

Tenzou sighed, shifting a little in what might generously be interpreted as an attempt to roll off the bed without releasing Kakashi. Kakashi only pointedly relaxed _harder_ \- one of the few people Sakura had ever seen who could do such a thing - and mostly closed his eyes, nestling deeper into their bed.

"You too." Sakura said, leaning in and prodding him just over one bony hip. "You'll feel better. . ." she added, coaxing.

Another gentle tug had eager-to-please - and far more reasonable - Tenzou giving a last groan and obediently rolling out of bed, sliding to his feet. Kakashi whined and made sad puppy eyes but followed suit and rose with a stiff roll of his shoulders.

Once Sakura had them both _up_, it was quick work to get the shower running, strip Tenzou - and the few items Sakura and Kakashi still wore - and get them all inside. The oversized shower and bathing area had been one of Kakashi's few requirements for their apartment - though somewhat amazingly his stated reason had been neither for this purpose _nor_ any other . . . 'need' for the three of them to fit inside, but so he could wash his dogs.

Although likely the cleanest of the three - _she_ had bathed after returning home from her unusually light workday - Sakura let herself be tugged between her boys. She felt small and cosy tucked between them, and looped an arm around Kakashi's waist as she tickled her fingers up Tenzou's side - careful of his bruises - making him twitch. She smiled.

Sakura slipped out of the cosy space after a few more minutes, Kakashi's hand sliding over her hip and butt, and gently shoved Tenzou to take her place in the centre. He groaned, wavering on his feet as she and Kakashi peppered kisses over his back, shoulders, and face in between slow swipes of hands only sometimes lathered with soap.

Tenzou steadily relaxed until he was all but moaning, eyes closed and lips parted, draped against Kakashi's chest with Sakura's arms around his ribs keeping him steady and her breasts pressed against his back. It was only when Tenzou began to waver, and Sakura's arms were _really_ all that were keeping him on his feet, that Sakura huffed, shaking her head, and caught Kakashi's eye meaningfully.

He hummed, bowing his head to nuzzle Tenzou's brow, and twisted fluidly to turn off the water without slipping away from Tenzou. He whined pathetically as they pulled him out of the shower, and Sakura had to suppress a fond laugh. Normally so stoic, he let himself unbend with them - and he must be _truly_ worn to be so very piteous.

"Bed soon." Kakashi soothed, ruffling his wet hair with one hand and passing Sakura a towel with the other. Tenzou straightened and stretched, smiling warmly, and took a towel himself, a shiver running through him as his skin prickled visibly.

He didn't hurry too much, though, and as soon as she had finished her hair - cursorily; it was going to be wilful and messy tomorrow, but she ignored that - Sakura pounced on him, pushing him into Kakashi and buffeting him dry gently. Kakashi laughed, running light fingers over Tenzou as he squirmed.

"Bed." Sakura instructed, throwing the wet towel into Kakashi's face and twining her arms around one of Tenzou's. "Time to rest, darling."

She took a single step and then found herself swept back again, pressed full against Tenzou's body as he bowed his head to kiss her, lingering and warm. Sakura hummed with pleasure, cupping his cheek and leaning into him. "I love you," she said softly as their lips parted, "I'm glad you're home."

"I love you," Tenzou sighed, sagging a little, "me too."

"I wish you were both in bed." Kakashi said lazily, and yawned pointedly when they turned to look at him, lounging against the doorframe. He smirked a little as his sharp teeth clicked back together, and Sakura rolled her eyes but couldn't suppress a smile.

Tenzou snorted, but nudged her away again, trailing at her back towards Kakashi and the bedroom. Sakura moved past them and her smile widened as she heard Kakashi's soft, affectionate murmur behind her. She climbed onto the bed on her knees to draw the curtain back over the window and turned around just in time to be pressed between her boys as they followed her.

She wriggled and sighed as she stretched out, warm and at peace now with them both home and near and whole. Tenzou was nearly dead weight as soon as he hit the mattress, but Kakashi fidgeted and stretched and resettled himself as he usually did. Sakura waited patiently for him to find his place as well, idly running her fingertips over his hip from time to time. He nipped her shoulder as he finally went still.

Sakura hummed happily, stretching - a little restrained, so as not to disturb her boys settled so close around her - and relaxing into the space between two warm, solid bodies. Kakashi snuffled at her shoulder, curled at her side but not restrained in any way by weight or limbs from either of them - Tenzou, sacked out hard already, snored softly into her other shoulder, lying partially atop her with one hand curled on her ribs, fingers brushing Kakashi's chest.

Sakura petted his belly with her own knuckles, wriggling enough to wrap her other arm around Tenzou and pet his hair before letting her hand fall, sighing contentedly and closing her eyes.


End file.
